Friday, 25 April 2014

Chuck gave us 50 characters... told us to pick 5 of them and gave us 1500 words to write a story... I shoved all 50 characters into a room, picked five of them to play with and did my thing!

Hello friend. Would you like to pull up a chair and have a
drink? It’s on the house. Yeah, there’s not many people here yet, but
just wait, I’m expecting company.

Even though there’s fifty people or so in
this room listening to the quiet wanderer up on stage mumble about his exploits
across the realms, nobody is really all that interested in him.

But I am.

I’m interested enough to know it’s time to
pull him off and let the friendly musician have a go before he beats the crap
out of the shy guy… with his guitar.

Aaah, and here’s the last of them.

Quick close the doors before they all leave
my establishment. I want you to watch
them all squirm as they realise they’re stuck here… mainly the last four who
have shown up, and have found the last table is the only table they can sit at.

Why?

Oh… hehe… you see none of these people will
get along very well. And I want them to
at the very least try.

In fact, why don’t you join them? Yes… I’m talking to you. Here take their orders over there – yes I
know what they want – and sit down with them.
It’ll be a tight squeeze, I know, but be the fly on the wall for an hour
or so, and see how you go, while the friendly musician goes on stage.

What?
You’re back already?

The biased prostitute did what? Yeah, should have warned you about her being
a mind-reader when she touched you. No
wonder she punched you. Here’s some ice
for that black eye you’re gonna have tomorrow.

Now, how did you go with the actor?

Um… he stole your wallet? Nah, you must have been sitting next to the
aggravated thief … he really needs a good friend to turn him straight. Oh, here he is, returning your wallet with
all your stuff inside it. How cool is
that? Not your wallet, but your stuff is
inside it? Okay… that’s a new
experience, isn’t it?

Oooh… look at that! The actor is up on the stage quoting
Shakespeare. Very cool. You don’t see that very often; and he’s
great. Hey looka that! He’s going to do a play…and… with each
character, he physically changes into that character! Amazing!
Would you like another drink? And
here, let’s look at that eye of yours, it looks okay for now. Go and sit down and enjoy the play… it’s a
great classic.

Whose business card’s that? Interesting!
An assistant… but who do they work for?
This is what I want to know… but then, I’m only a bar tender… anyway, I
have other customers to serve… back soon.

Okay, let’s see that card… doesn’t say
much. Have you talked to them? No?
Try to, see if they’re okay, because, mate, that one looks really
tired. Here give them a cup of coffee on
me.

Didn’t want the coffee? Okay, that’s cool. No probs.
I’ll let them come to me. Isn’t
the show amazing? That actor hasn’t
missed a beat… or a character! Really
great! I love this play too – Romeo and
Juliet – one of my all-time favourites.
I remember when it first came out at The Globe Theatre… it was
fantastic! I played … oh never
mind. Here have another drink. And go and find out what the hell that burnt
out assistant is hiding, could you? I
want to know all about my … customers… okay?
Good, thanks.

What? Still won’t tell you? Buy her a drink… get her drunk… screw her
brains out… do what it takes to get her to tell you. Are you shy about having sex in a public
place? I’ve seen so many of the
customers here just go for it because I’ve wanted to know something about
somebody else… it’s the ultimate blackmailing material to use against another
person – especially if it means they don’t want anyone else to know something
about them.

So, go… screw her and find out what her
deep, dark, oh so dirty secret is… and come back here.

Hey, it’s been hours, where have you
been? Oh… you got her into bed… and she …
hehe… mind-melded with you? Great one!

Yeah I knew she’d do that. Okay… cya, come back and talk to me when you
can, if she lets you.

Hey, getting drinks for your table…
good. The assistant has you working
well, doesn’t she? What’s that? You want to go home?

I’m sorry but you can’t leave now. And your girlfriend won’t like it either… in
fact she’ll kill you first before I will.

Why?
Aah, well, here’s the deal, buddy. You’re to stay here until you get to know
those five people at that table intimately.
And until such time you do, I can’t let you outa here.

Why? Because
I said so asshole.

Hey… listen I make the rules here… and I
tell you what to do, where to go and how to act. These people and things are here because they
screwed up on my watch… and they come to my bar because they belong to me.

After all you made the deal, right.

You sealed it with a big, sloppy ol’ kiss…
yep thought so. You got a grope out
while you were doin’ it, didn’t ya?
No? Oh… you scored a dude to kiss…
sorry about that. Nah… not really, that’s
piss funny! But your ass and your soul
belong to me now… and what I say goes around here.

So, go and do your shit at that table until
I tell you otherwise.

No?

Listen, friend… haven’t you figured out who
I am yet?

I’m not a demon…

I’m not an angel – as you may have figured
out.

I’m … yeah, that’s right… oh shit…

You’ve died because my debt collector has
come to your door knocking … and it’s time to pay your dues.

And you’re paying them up front,

In cash not credit,

With your soul and mind,

And until such time, I think you’re ready to
be let out into the world again I’m not letting you go.

When will that be?

Until I get bored with you and until your new sex fiend of a girlfriend
does too… and that won’t be for a very long time! Hey look a new customer. Go and sit down with those five over
there. Play nice and don’t be a bitch
about anything… just do as you’re told!

Hello friend. Would you like to pull up a chair and have a
drink? It’s on the house. Yeah, there’s not many people here yet, but
just wait, I’m expecting company.

Saturday, 19 April 2014

Today I looked in my inbox and found our
challenge: pick one of the opening lines
from the contest from last week, and use it in a story. We can’t use our own. So, I’ve picked out Rebecca Shuttleworth’s and I hope you like what I’ve done with it.

Plummeting, Daria closed her eyes and
resigned herself to the fall, concentrating only on the effort of becoming
lighter, weightless, free. The force of the freefall from the aircraft
was terrifying however she felt as though she had done this all before…

Somehow…

Somewhere…

Her hair pulled
off her face and her clothes flapped out behind her as she pulled her body
tight, arms out to her sides – as though she was on a crucifix – felt the wind
stop as she hung in the air for a moment.

And in that tiny
moment in time, she felt as though something happened to her… something amazing
she had never experienced before.

She was no longer
falling.

She was flying!

Daria felt and
heard feathers around her shoulders moving… flitting around her shoulders… and
yet couldn’t see them. Only a moment
ago, was falling in fear and now? Now,
she was floating through the air effortlessly.
A smile crossed her face as she relaxed and let this happen, let it take
over… how many times in life does this kind of thing occur where you control
your surroundings? Not much!

A gunshot shocked
her!

It came from
above!

The hi-jackers
who had taken over her twin-engine, grabbed her from the cockpit and shoved her
out without a parachute were trying to kill her!

She didn’t have
time to think as they shot again and a sharp pain in her shoulder made her
roll, causing her body to fall like a stone to the ground!

Daria woke on the
ground in the middle of the highway.

She should have
been dead. But she wasn’t.

“What the hell?”
she sat up, looked around just in time to see an eighteen-wheeler screaming
towards her! She raised her hand up and
a shining light emanated from her whole body as she closed her eyes for a
moment and then found herself on the side of the road.

The truck had
stopped nearby and driver was standing next to his cab looking at her, “Exactly
how did you do that?”

“I was…”

“In the middle of
the road a few seconds ago.” He said, “And now you’re here.” Then he frowned,
“And where did you come from?”

She looked at
him, then looked up to the sky, “I don’t think you’d believe me.”

“I’ve seen some
really strange things behind the wheel of that thing.” He said, “Try me.”

She pointed up
into the fading sky, “I was pushed out of the plane I was flying… I was
hi-jacked.”

“We have to get
you to a hospital.”

Two days and a
myriad of tests later, Daria was given the all-clear from the doctors. She sat in her room and looked at herself in
the mirror as she got dressed, wondering how she came to fall from a plane
thirty-five thousand feet up and didn’t have a single scratch on her.

“Hi.” The
familiar voice of the nurse said at her door.

“I’m wondering
how I survived the fall.” She said.

“We all are.” She
walked in and closed the door, “But I have your X-Rays back and there’s
something strange on them.” She pulled out the films and put them onto the
light box on the wall and switched it on, “You have something engraved into
your bones.”

Daria took the
films down slowly, “Shit.”

“Do you remember
anything happening on the way down?”

She laughed,
“Yeah, I was shot at and wounded.”

“Where?”

“Left shoulder.”

The nurse turned
her around and looked carefully, “You have no such injury. Are you sure you took a bullet?”

She nodded, “Yes,
I remember pain and how fast I fell after it hit.”

She nodded, “Okay,
so you should have more injuries or…”

“Should be dead.”
Daria looked back into the mirror as she pulled her dressing gown from the
hospital closer around her body, “But I’m not.”

“Do you feel any
different?” the nurse asked.

“No.” she lied.

The next morning,
Daria was released to go home. Her parents
picked her up and took her to her Grandmother’s house; which she had inherited
and now lived in. She spent the day out
in the garden looking at the flowers; just staring at them before going into
her studio and writing in her journal about what happened to her that day:

‘17th,
April, 2014… I came home today. I’m at
my place. It’s strange, as though I’ve
never been here before. I don’t know
where anything is… and yet I’ve lived here for over a decade. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But today, I was out in the garden and I
found the flowers talking to me. They
whispered to me the secrets of the galaxy.’

Daria looked down
at the page, “I’m going crazy.”

“No, you’re not.”
A voice said behind her.

She turned to
find a man in a suit in her studio. He walked
up to her desk, moved the book she had written in closer so he could read it, “Wait,
that’s private.”

“No it’s not.” He
said, “I found you, Haniel.”

“Who? I’m Daria.” She put her hand out to him and
he awkwardly shook it, “Who’s Haniel?”

“The Archangel
who has been protecting you since you were young. Now, things have become a little more…” he
gazed out the window toward the house, “… complicated.” He looked back at her, “Haniel
has given you her Grace, thus making you an Angel and she’s out there
somewhere.”

“So, what am I?”

“That’s what I’m
here to find out.” He said, “I’m Raphael, a friend of Haniel’s, and you are to
come with me now.”

Friday, 4 April 2014

Life can be hell... let's face it, for some of us, life is Hell. So, Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction Friday this week is for us to write about just that: Life is Hell... well, our version of it anyway. My version of it is what you're about to see below. Enjoy!

“Here,
take it.” He offered his blade to me – again – as he always did at the end of
each and every damned day I’ve been here.

“No.” I was exhausted from his torture.

Alexander had sliced and diced me and my
soul a million different ways today as I laid on his rack, while I screamed in
agony. And he enjoyed every single
moment of it… as my blood poured onto the floor…

…as my bones snapped and cracked under his
hands…

… as I was taken apart while my heart and
mind was still intact…

Then, as the day drew to an end, I was put
back together by him with a snap of his fingers, his mouth pulling up the side
of his face – that snide, shitty smile I wanted to burn off his face in a
second, but knew I couldn't.

“Okay.” He nodded, “Back to your chamber,
arsehole.”

Tomorrow was another day of the very same
thing.

But you see, time moved differently here
than on topside – you know on Earth where you guys are living, where it’s
peaceful. You get to see the sun come up
in the mornings. You get to hear the
birds singing and plants grow. You get
to eat fresh fruit and vegetables and have weekends and Christmas and eat
chocolate and … well, live in a world where you can believe in being safe.

Here, I’m never safe.

I can’t run away from Alexander.

I know, I’ve tried to a number of times, and
he’s found me each and every time. He
knows every corner of Hell and knows all the hiding places, all the passwords
and who to bribe, with what and where I’d go to try to vanish… yep, he’s been
here that long.

When he knew my butt was coming here, he
actually volunteered to torture me. Yeah,
we go a long way back… he bullied me big time on Earth, and now he rides my
soul’s butt in Hell.

How shitty can ya get, eh?

And after he pulls me apart forty ways from
Sunday on his bloody, hideous blood and guts-covered rack, and he’s had his fun
with me, he snaps his fingers and I’m whacked back together again and I’m
forced to remember what he’s done to me for his own amusement. And he offers me an internship… to take over
torturing souls in his place. To take up
his shining, sharp blade and be his apprentice – to do his job as he watches
over me – so I am always in his debt.

I always say no.

I’ve been here for fifty years (that’s five
months for you guys) and I always say no, and he sends me back to my chamber
where I never get to sleep, as there’s nothing comfortable about the
place. There’s no bed, nothing to sit
on, no window to look out of and no peace… there’s always somebody having a
screaming fit about something.

And if that’s not keeping me awake, I get
visitors who are demons who look like people I’ve loved… like my Mum or my
niece… just to confuse me and make me feel horrible and have nightmares when I
do get the odd two hours sleep before that dim light of dawn filters through
the halls and I’m dragged back to Alexander’s rack and my day starts over
again.

In Hell, I’ve noticed I don’t eat anything…
all there is to do is endure the torture Alexander hands out. And this shit goes on for another thirty
years before I find myself sitting there on edge of his rack, naked, covered in
blood and hearing him laugh at me yet again as he asked me, “Here, take it.” And
his blood-stained hand holds out that razor sharp blade to me yet again.

The temptation is there. I bowed my head as tears came easily, “No.”

His finger pulled my chin up to make me look
at him, “Take it.”

“No.”

“Aaah, but you’re tempted.” He grinned.

Climbing off the rack, I stand ankle-deep in
human remains, “Of course I am, I never will.”

“Why not?”

“Because, Alexander, no matter how much you
torture me, I believe I will get out of here.” I turned and walked away from
him, no longer ashamed of myself.

“Get your arse back here!” His voice
thundered in his workstation and suddenly I’m strapped back onto his rack
again, “Well, if I haven’t broken you by now, we’ll do double time.” He raised
his hand and the shining blade began to slice my flesh again. The pain felt as new as it did on the first
day as my howls of pain echoed around the room; joining the choir of other
souls of Hell.

I woke in my chamber. My wounds were still healing. Alexander must have lost control, I’m not
sure.

“Well, you’re still alive.” A voice said at
the door, “I’m thankful.”

I tried to move, but my injuries were too
extensive, “Oh dear Lord, help me.”

“I heard your prayers, and I’m here to raise
you from redemption.” His voice whispered in my ear as his hand touched my
shoulder…

…as my wounds healed…

…as I opened my eyes and …

… woke in a hospital bed with a man next to
me; the same man who was in Hell.

“Who are you?” I whispered.

“A friend.” He smiled.

“I saw you in Hell.”

“Hell is relative… everyone has their own
private type.” He replied, “Yours was very real…and I had to help you out of it
otherwise Alexander would have killed you.”

“How do I thank you?”

He handed me a blade, “Don’t give this to
Alexander… he’ll be looking for it.”

“So, you…?” I looked down at my hand and
found a tiny sword pendant in my hand, put it around my neck, and pushed it
under my shirt. This thing looked
totally different in Hell. I looked up
and found the man gone, “Exactly who was that?”

A doctor walked into the room, picked up my
chart and looked at me as he sat down, “Hi, Angela, my name is Alexander. I’m here to help you.”

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About Me

I'm a writer.
I'm a reader.
I'm a collector of books and other things as well.
People say I'm interesting, but I think I'm just an average person looking out into a strange old world with my own ideas of what's going on.
There's other blogs I manage as well... go and have a look and see them if you dare.

The Liebster Award

Other Creepy Stuff by Other Creepy Authors

Flash Fiction

I've been writing a lot of Flash Fiction here lately; and it's been a lot of fun. However, I haven't been writing this alone. I've been working through another blog - Terrible Minds - where the manager there has been setting his followers Flash Fiction Challenges. Chuck Wendig is an author of a few books himself; and he has gotten us all hooked on his once-a-week challenges. So, if you'd like join in with what I'm doing, just go to his blog on WordPress and follow it. It's full of bad language, great advice and lots of laughs, but every Friday, there's the Flash Fiction Challenge he puts up; and that's a lot of fun!

Welcome and Salutations

Well, hello there and welcome to my blog of stories, novellas of the vampire variety and of the impossible. This is something of a dream of mine to share my stories with the world; and how better than to do it through one of the biggest blogging programs (well, getting published through the traditional means isso expensive).So, sit back and enjoy this selection of stories about the undead, aliens and the weird that I hope you enjoy as much I did writing them. And please do leave a comment about which ones you enjoyed the most so I know what kind to write next... and yes, it's a matter of reading these at your own risk of...